Growing Up Sonic
by PumpkinSpiceHedgie
Summary: Three years after Eggman's defeat, as Silver and Blaze struggle to make this world theirs and Knuckles and Rouge unintentionally thrust the team into trouble, all Sonic wants is to not grow up. As his own relationship with Amy grows uncertain at best, Sonic must come to terms with his new, normal life and decide what he wants to do with it—before he loses everything he holds dear.
1. Many Happy Returns

**A/N: Hello, lovelies! Welcome to what I hope will be the coming-of-age fic to rule them all! (I know, lofty goal, but I can dream, can't I?) I'm gonna try my absolute best to give y'all the drama you expect with the feels you love—without making you want to shoot yourself in the process.**

 **This is an old concept I've been working on since I was a young teen, and it's evolved dramatically, especially as I have grown into an adult myself and have faced some of the same things you will see here. It has become the most important story in a rather odd series of fics (see my profile for more info). However, it is not the FIRST in this series. That said, all you need to know for this one is that, right after Sonic's sixteenth birthday, he was forced to reunite with the Sonic Underground crew (namely Manic, Sonia, and Queen Aleena), and together they defeated Eggman for (presumably) the final time. The good doctor is now making his bed at the newly-rebuilt Prison Island, and Sonic's family is now a very distant (but still important) part of his life.**

 **One final note: This fic is rated T due to sexual references. Absolutely nothing explicit will be shown, but it is discussed. Younger than 13? Read at your own risk.**

 **All right, enough bold text. Let's GO!**

 **Disclaimer:** **I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any characters, places, or objects associated with it. The only things I do own in this fic (besides the plot) will be noted as such later on. Also, for this chapter, they're playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and I don't own that, either. (Stupid disclaimers, always emphasizing what you don't have instead of being grateful for what you do have, nya nya nya...)**

* * *

 **Chapter 1—Many Happy Returns**

Eighteen year old Sonic the Hedgehog was as happy as they came. There were only a few things he needed to consider life sweet—running, chili dogs, his friends, and his music were about it. His birthday was a day when he had all four, plus a whole bunch of other cool stuff like cake, presents, and the inexplicable joy of turning a year older. He could wake up tomorrow morning to a beautiful summer sunrise and say he was nineteen, and for some reason that made him excited. Nineteen sounded so much older than eighteen, just like eighteen had sounded much older than seventeen.

One of these days all this growing up would catch up to him, but who cared about that?

All day he had run into friends who'd wished him well on his day of birth. Those he hadn't found wound up at the little get-together he and Tails were hosting, which was just fine by him. Only those he was especially close to would dare to venture within the doors of the workshop, which was a bachelor pad in every sense of the word. Sonic's eleven-year-old best friend did have some pride and tried to clean up the place a bit if he knew someone was coming to call, but he wasn't exactly known for freaking out over a messy front room if someone popped up unexpectedly. When confronted, Tails claimed such carelessness could have only come from Sonic, who'd shrugged and decided it was possible. He didn't care enough to bother refuting a statement which was probably true in the first place.

Either way, a path had been shoveled out between dirty socks, empty pizza boxes had been sent to their graves, and an odor-masker that smelled vaguely like fresh bedsheets had been sprayed in the living room so as to accommodate some of Sonic's closest friends on his birthday. Knuckles was there, of course, though it had taken some effort to get him to quit grumbling about leaving the Master Emerald long enough to agree to come. He saw no excitement in turning nineteen, since his twentieth birthday had already come and gone, but Tails had talked him into coming anyway. Cream and her mother were there, as well; Cream was nine years old now and didn't need a chaperone everywhere anymore, but Vanilla had grown to be the closest thing Sonic had to a mother in that his real mother lived on another continent and was busy doing whatever it was queens did. The older rabbit folded her wing over him when he needed it like he was her own son, and was thus welcome. Silver and Blaze had promised they would try to come, as well, but Blaze's duties in the Sol Dimension had cropped up at the wrong time, leaving the pair's plans up in the air. Their absence was felt in the empty spots on the love seat they usually took up, but the party was still lively as ever. Amy, easily the most excited guest, made sure of that.

Ah, yes, Amy—the fifteen-year-old girl Sonic just didn't know how to handle anymore. It used to be that he could be certain what she would do whenever they happened to meet up; it meant spending a solid five minutes afterward catching his breath and fighting an embarrassed blush when she hugged him. The real question had been in when and where she showed up, and it certainly wouldn't have been Sonic's idea to invite her to his birthday party. As they had gotten older, however, he couldn't even count on her sporadic "attacks" anymore. He didn't exactly mind; in fact, they had built a solid friendship over the last three years that wasn't half as treacherous for him as it had once been. He was just baffled as to what had caused Amy to actually give him his space. Tails loved to point out when she cast him longing glances when he wasn't looking, which was the only evidence he had against the theory that she had just given up on winning his heart.

That bothered him a little, but that was as far as his thought process ever got, and today was no different.

The cobalt hero mashed the buttons on his controller madly, willing his onscreen character to jump just a little farther. "Nooo!" he cried as the avatar missed the higher platform. "I fell! No way, now I'm stuck on the _slow_ path!"

"Sucks for you," Knuckles pretended to sympathize. He gave his remote a jerk, and the character he was controlling twirled in midair to just reach the platform Sonic had tried so valiantly to land on. "See you at the flag, _sucker."_

"Oh, no you don't!" Sonic's character leaped onto a block and stomped down on it, causing an earthquake to knock his friend's avatar to its knees long enough for him to leap onto the head of an unsuspecting enemy and overtake him on the path to the finish. "You forgot there's a POW block under here!" the hedgehog singsonged with a maniacal laugh.

Knuckles growled and pushed his character forward, barking, "Tails, what's taking you so long? He's ganging up on me!"

"I'm out of lives!" The kitsune threw his hands into the air helplessly. "I can't come back until you guys finish the level!"

"Well, _now's_ a fine time to mention that!"

"Yikes!" Sonic suddenly gasped, having found his character unable to leap over a pit of spikes with his natural trajectory. "I'm down to just me! Where's a mushroom block in this place?"

"It's up there!" Amy suddenly broke into the competition by reaching forward to point at the television screen. "Wall jump up there!"

"What? No!" Knuckles tried to stop him, but Sonic's lightning reflexes got him to the item block first, and he crowed triumphantly as his character changed color, "Haha _ha_ , the Fire Flower is _mine!"_

"Hmph," Knuckles grunted, "I already had one. Even race to the finish?"

"You bet!"

As the two older boys charged toward the last stretch of landscape before the flagpole that signified the end of the level, Tails entertained himself with color commentary; "They're evenly matched, folks; looks like Luigi's speed isn't helping him as much as Knuckles wants! They leap over the bottomless pit—wow, what a save from Blue Toad! Luigi's in the lead, but boy, Blue Toad's looking to—oh no! Blue Toad just stomped on a green shell and threw it at Luigi! He's taken the lead! The flagpole is in sight, ladies and gentlemen! Who's going to win this battle of the century?!" Sonic and Knuckles were screaming incoherent things at the screen and each other, and Amy and Cream were cheering them on.

At last, the two characters soared off a staircase and reached for the top of the flagpole as one. "It's a _tie!"_ Tails shouted over the excited noise everyone else was making as the characters slid down the flagpole and did their oblivious happy dance.

"Dude, I totally won," Sonic managed to say after a few moments of catching his breath.

"If by 'win' you mean 'lose,' then yeah, that's exactly what you did," Knuckles grunted as Sonic directed the now-threesome to the next stage.

"Amy? You wanted to play, right?" Sonic held up the remaining controller enticingly.

Amy reached for it, then backed off again rather suddenly. "I was gonna save my spot in case Silver and Blaze got here and wanted to play," she explained hesitantly.

"Who cares?" Knuckles shrugged. "You snooze, you lose. Besides, Silver's terrible at this one."

"Just come on, Ames," Sonic told her, pressing the button to call up the character selection screen. "Nobody's been Mario yet. I'll quit if Silver wants to play."

Amy's face lit up at his invitation, and that was the end of her reluctance. Cream, believing the competition to be a little violent for her tastes, remained in the cheering squad with Vanilla on the couch. Cheese fluttered around the screen, making joyous little cooing noises as the four players started another shouting match, this one even louder than the last.

"How the heck are you so much faster than me?" "Somebody get over here, I need a bounce to reach that coin." "Dude, Yellow Toad took my power-up!" "Sorry, not sorry." "Okay, who leaves green shells just lying on the ground, waiting for somebody to trip over?" "Ah!" "Hey!" "Get over here!" "Ack! Stupid bottomless pit!" _"Rude!"_

They were so wrapped up in the game that they didn't notice Cream leap up from the couch and dash out of the room, nor did they notice Vanilla following her daughter with an amused shake of her head.

It took a new but welcome voice to pull the foursome back into reality; "Hey, can I play next round?"

"Silver!" came the general exclamation, and instantly the game was left to its pause menu as they greeted new arrivals Silver and Blaze with warm hugs and handshakes.

"Happy birthday, man," Silver told Sonic as they firmly clasped hands.

"Thanks, Silv. Glad you guys could make it," returned Sonic with a characteristic grin. "What took ya?"

The white hedgehog shrugged carelessly. "I dunno, Blaze had some stuff to do before she went AWOL for the day, and I'm still kinda having trouble focusing on Chaos Control lately, so..."

"Hm." Flipping the game controller attached to his wrist once, Sonic turned to Blaze, who had been thoroughly welcomed with hugs from Amy and Cream. "Hey, Blaze, what's up?"

"Hello, Sonic." The smallest of smiles lifted the corners of the eighteen-year-old feline's mouth as Cream let go of her so she could dutifully accept the hedgehog's offered hand. "Happy birthday, and thank you for your invitation."

"Nah, no problem, you guys are welcome any time." A sparkle lit up the hedgehog's green eyes as he added, "Especially if there's cake involved."

"Yeah, cake!" Tails agreed instantly. "Can we do dinner and cake now?"

"Do chili dogs taste good?" Sonic retorted eagerly. He cut off what he was sure would be a negative response from Knuckles and said, "C'mon, since we're all here. Vanilla made some of her homemade pizza for anybody who doesn't feel like eating chili dogs tonight."

A loud chorus of delighted "Mmm's" accompanied a stampede into the kitchen.

* * *

Before long, the whole group was chiming into a noisy but heartfelt rendition of "Happy Birthday" over a large sheet cake Amy had lovingly decorated with enough sprinkles to make the icing crunchy—just the way Sonic liked it. The dining room table was crowded but hospitable as Amy dished out slices of cake and Vanilla scooped generous portions of chocolate-chip cookie dough ice cream onto each plate.

"Thanks for the cake, Ames," Sonic sounded gratefully as he licked a glob of icing off his lip. "It's really good."

"Oh! T-thanks," the pink hedgehog stammered, trying not to let herself blush even as the others gave their instant agreement. She beamed at him, and for a second's worth of time, something held him in that locked gaze. For that second, they were the only two people in the room.

"... sprinkles to break a tooth," came Knuckles's sarcastic voice to break the moment. Reality settled like a brick, and Sonic blinked, startled. "Icing shouldn't be crunchy."

"Now there's where I draw the line," Sonic re-entered the conversation, realizing immediately he had been too quick and too loud and compensating over his next sentence. "Icing's okay just plain, 'specially if it's chocolate, but come on, who can pass up a little extra pure sugar and yellow dye number five?"

Instead of an indignant rebuttal, a smirk crossed Knuckles's features, and he sounded like he wanted to laugh as he said, "About time you tuned in, hedgehog. You were practically in the Sol Dimension there."

Apparently he had been lost in la-la land for longer than a second. There was no use in fighting a blush now, but Sonic just laughed it off as easily as ever. "Sorry, I didn't know there was anything important going on here."

"I was talking to you," Knuckles glared.

"Like I said, nothing important." Sonic knew he'd won when Knuckles aggressively stabbed his fork into his slice of cake as a response. He himself took a bite, and for a second he was lost in the sweet, spongy treat, only this time, the others were, too. Cake was a rare treat, and aside from Knuckles, there wasn't an unhappy soul in the room in its presence.

"So what'd you wish for, Sonic?" Tails changed the subject through a monstrous bite of cake, leaning in eagerly for an answer.

Sonic scoffed, just barely remembering to swallow before replying, "Dude, I can't tell you; then it won't come true. I could ask what everyone else wished for; would you tell me?"

"These traditions are so pointless," complained a still-miffed Knuckles. "Why does everyone wish for something when one guy blows out a few tiny candles? Nobody actually believes in wishes, right?"

"How can you say that?" Cream piped up, shooting the surprised echidna a rather scalding glare. "Wishes come true! You said so yourself, remember?"

As Knuckles scoured his memory for any conversations involving Cream and wishes in the last five years, Sonic let himself reflect on the topic. He hadn't actually wished for anything when he'd blown out the candles; for one thing, he'd been focusing on how to blow out nineteen candles in one breath, and for another, he couldn't think of anything he wanted. Life was treating him well at the moment, and "I wish things could stay this great forever" was a pretty sappy wish. No, better to just leave things be and see what happened.

He congratulated himself for this new level of corny thought as he tuned back in to the conversation, which had turned surprisingly theological in his absence.

"In the Sol Dimension, wishes correspond to prayers," Blaze was explaining with as much enthusiasm as ever. "If we say, 'I wish for happiness,' it means around the same as if one of you were to pray for happiness.

"Like, from God," Silver added in an attempt to be helpful. "It's kinda more serious over there—people take it more seriously."

Blaze nodded her agreement. "Of course, we do not have as many... opportunities for wishing as you do. Birthdays are celebrations of life, not opportunities to demand something of Sol."

"That's kinda cool," Tails commented thoughtfully. Tails loved listening to either of his dimension-hopping friends describe their world, and he had been hanging on Blaze's every word this whole time. Sonic reasoned that the fox knew more about the connections between the two worlds than anyone respecting the laws of time and space ever should have. "I'm pretty sure that's how wishing started out here, too, but since people don't really believe in God the way they used to, wishes and prayers just kinda became separate things."

"So it really doesn't mean anything," Knuckles muttered in conclusion. "How about that; I was right."

Save for another annoyed glare from Cream, which looked completely foreign on the sweet young rabbit's face, no one knew how to respond until Sonic couldn't take it anymore and started laughing. "Man, Shadow kills conversations, but Knux brutally _murders_ 'em."

"Where is Shadow, anyway?" Amy asked in hopes of steering the conversation back into lighter topics. "I thought you were going to invite him"

Sonic shrugged with an amused smirk. "I did. Rouge, too. I guess they decided playing video games and eating pizza were too immature for a pair of government spies."

"Well," came Knuckles's low and unfinished response with a shrug.

Sonic reached behind Tails to cuff the echidna's shoulder. "Shut up, Knux."

"Maybe they're just busy," Cream suggested with a hopeful smile. "After all, it would be awfully rude to not accept such a generous invitation." Wry smiles crept up everyone's faces at the innocent comment, each Mobian silently wishing Cream would never grow up.

"I bet you're right," Sonic told her with a cheerful grin. "It's okay. Means more cake for the rest of us, right?"

"Oh!" Amy suddenly exclaimed, jumping up from her spot at the table. "I'll give you some to take for Marine, Blaze. I know she was probably disappointed to miss out."

"She will be when she realizes what she missed," Blaze nodded. "I couldn't get a word in edgewise; she was much too excited about the prospect of some adventure on the high seas."

Sonic rolled his green eyes with an amused snicker. "Selective hearing at its best. Wish we could send some ice cream, too."

Amber eyes widened just a bit, but that was all the reaction needed. The cat cleared her throat and quickly replied, "No. She doesn't need any more sugar. I'll do my best to convince her to come next time; hopefully you'll still have some left."

Laughter bubbled up from all present, but it was Tails who said what they all knew to be true: "No guarantees."

* * *

That night was a peaceful respite from the action of the day. After cake and presents had been given and everyone had split off for the day, Sonic found himself seated comfortably in the living room, by himself, with an acoustic guitar in his hands instead of a game controller. On the couch seat next to him lay an open book of sheet music, which had been given to him by Amy earlier, and its pristine white pages were already marked with a few stray pencil lines as he attempted to play one of his favorite songs. The television was on nearby, quietly droning some news channel, but he wasn't giving it more than the occasional glance.

"Hey," came a sudden intrusion on his focus; he glanced up to note Tails's entrance. "Isn't that bugging you?" the kitsune asked, nodding toward the TV.

Sonic shook his head; "Nah, I can't even hear it."

"Then why'd you turn it on?" Tails plopped into the recliner opposite his surrogate brother, legs flopped carelessly over one of the chair's arms and arms spread out, and Sonic relaxed his grip on his instrument to properly converse with him.

"Cuz. I was wondering if Manic and Sonia did anything special today, and watching the news is easier than calling to ask."

Cerulean eyes lit up slightly in remembrance; "Oh, yeah, I guess it was their birthday today, too, wasn't it?"

"Mm-hm." Absentmindedly, the hedgehog plucked at his guitar strings, running a quick scale before saying, "Hey, I think I've almost got this one."

"Already?" Tails raised an eyeridge. "It's only been an hour or two."

"Yeah, check it out." Without hesitation, Sonic's improvisational playing turned into an organized song, one Tails recognized as soon as the melody flowed out. He nodded his approval, wondering where Sonic had picked up his musical talent and where he could get some of it, as Sonic added the words they both knew well.

" _They say that a hero can save us, I'm not gonna stand here and wait. I'll hold on to the wings of eagles, watch as they all fly away..."_

"Do you still miss being a hero?" Tails found himself asking. The thought had only barely crossed his mind before he spoke, and he was just as surprised as Sonic, whose playing abruptly stopped mid-chord.

"Well, sure," he answered incredulously with a careless shrug. "Every day. It's hard sometimes, not having Egghead around. That was my life for so long, and now that it's over... I gotta find something else to do."

The moment of awkward silence was cut mercifully short by the return of the news program from a commercial break—featuring a picture of two figures both boys found familiar. No words were needed; Sonic reached for the remote to turn up the volume in time to hear the twenty-something human news anchor begin her story.

" _In overseas news tonight, we have a positive report from the royal family in Mobotropolis—the kids have survived another year. Nineteen years ago today, High Queen Aleena and her husband Prince Jules welcomed a set of triplets into the world that would change everything as we knew it. Sheldon Anton has the story live from Mobotropolis tonight, and Sheldon, don't you remember when these three were born?"_

"Slow news night," Sonic commented dryly as a middle-aged turtle dressed in a snazzy bow tie appeared on screen, with the palace in Mobotropolis standing proudly over him; well-dressed people could be seen milling around on the lawn behind him for no apparent reason. _"Heh, no need to make me feel old, Rea, but yes, I was around nineteen years ago when Crown Princess Sonia and her two brothers Manic and Sonic were born. But no one could have guessed, looking at those tiny babies, what a difference they would make in the world, especially Sonic, the oldest—and fastest—of the triplets."_

This was the time Sonic chose to tune up with his guitar again, muttering, "I just want to know what they did today, not hear my whole life story."

However, he didn't even have time to make it through the chorus of the song again before the segment ended in a surprisingly short, concise time, for it seemed the reporter had more interesting things to talk about. _"Fast-forward to today, and we find them all living peaceful lives. Sonic has lived independently in Mobian-human territory since he brought down Dr. Eggman three years ago, in tiny Emerald Town outside Station Square, but Manic and Sonia both live here in Mobotropolis, where today the Princess revealed to the world her next step forward in life."_ Blue and gold ears perked in interest as a picture filled the screen—and Sonic immediately shouted "What?!" as the reporter continued, _"She brought, for the first time, a suitor to the party thrown for her birthday—Bartleby Montclaire, the twenty-one-year-old son of noble Hugh Montclaire."_

"Oh, _come on!"_ Sonic cried incredulously, openly burying his face in his hands as best he could when his guitar was still in his lap.

Tails, on the other hand, stared at him like he'd grown another head. "What's wrong with that?" he wanted to know.

"My sister's dating the biggest dork on the _planet,_ that's what's wrong with that!" came the indignant response.

A smirk carved its way across the fox's face; "Who, you? You're her brother, man."

"What?! Ew, no!" The sheer disgust on Sonic's face made Tails want to burst out laughing. "If you wanna call me a dork, then I'm a cool dork, and he's just the dorkiest dork who ever dorked."

Tails remained unconvinced despite his brother's raised, defensive quills. "What, does he have all nine _Galaxy Wars_ movies on DVD?"

Sonic shook his head quickly. "No, no, not that kind of dork. The annoying, jerky kind of dork. He's a total snob and he almost turned all of us in to Robotnik just to save his own ugly skin and—and Sonia just forgave him, apparently! She has no problem with the fact that he _almost got her killed_ and apparently decided he's good husband material, which he most certainly is _not—"_

"So they're getting married now?" Tails pointed out, folding his arms. "I'm pretty sure you're overreacting, bro."

Unwilling to outright admit to being shot down, Sonic grunted, slumped back in his seat, and looked back down at his guitar. "Thinkin' about writing a song called 'My Sister's Dating a Chump,'" he muttered for good measure.

Despite knowing there wasn't anything of note on the ceiling, Tails found himself unable to resist checking. "Good luck finding a rhyme for 'idiot'."

* * *

 **A/N: The song Sonic plays/sings is "Hero," sung by Chad Kroeger (from Nickelback) for one of the Spider Man movies (I think); I did not write it. Just imagine it being a super pretty acoustic set instead of... well, Nickelback.**

 **Fun fact: the birthday party scene was modeled after a typical birthday party at my family's house. I love our birthday parties, and I figured Sonic would probably like about the same type of deal—something small and intimate, with just those he's really close to.**

 **Thanks for reading! Drop a review if you liked it, please, if only just to let me know I'm not ruining my credibility by posting this...**

 **Also, a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the blue blur himself! We've finally hit the big 25! Here's to another quarter century of fun and coolness! :D**


	2. A Nudge in the Right Direction

**Anonymous Review Replies:**

 **Guest:** Thank you so much! I'm sorry this isn't coming "super soon" (read as: within six months) and I wasn't better able to make your summer less boring, but hopefully I can be a little better in the future.

 **A/N: Yeah, I know, I suck. It's been a super busy summer/fall semester, but it's been mostly good things, I promise. Just too much to really focus on fics. That said, I hope to use some of the growing up I've been doing to make Sonic's little growth spurt better as we go. That's the thing about writing the stage of life I myself am in; it always evolves. Fun, huh?**

 **Also, this story now has a COVER IMAGE! The Kindness and Great Artist Award goes to Tumblrite kjwart for her AMAZING work! Thank you so much, Katie! Every one of you should go check out her blog; it's full of some of the most amazing art I've ever seen. Link is in my bio. DO IT!**

 **Disclaimer: Anyone who's still here after six months of complete inactivity gets an award, like for realz. Thank you!**

* * *

 **Chapter 2—A Nudge in the Right Direction**

Not even two weeks passed before the gang had another opportunity to reunite and celebrate. Three years ago, just after Sonic's sixteenth birthday, the fourth day of July had gone down in history, as it was the day Sonic had defeated Dr. Eggman for the final time, thus restoring peace to a world six years buried in fear of the ongoing war. Even though it wasn't a national holiday, at least not yet, people around the world jumped at the chance to celebrate, and thus so did the team. Sonic cheerfully declared every year that "It'll be a holiday once we're all dead and gone, I guarantee it."

This particular anniversary day, however, was also the first Friday in July, a date which, rain or shine, held immense promise as the day of the annual EX World Grand Prix—the real one, not one randomly created as a ruse to gain a means by which to rule the world. To top off the excitement, this year's tournament brought Extreme Gear competitors from all over the world to Station Square and, consequently, to Emerald Town, the Mobian-populated suburb of the larger human city and the Sonic team's nominal hometown. The little town itself was to be one of the racetracks, the first of four locations to be contested in a day's time. Sonic and company had signed up immediately, and everyone had been anxiously preparing for competition for weeks.

"Did you check the closet in the upstairs hall?"

The preparations, unfortunately, had neglected to include finding Sonic's board before the first race at daybreak.

"On it!" the hero called in response to the suggestion from his best friend. He proceeded to jog up the stairs two at a time, and he nearly collided with a disgruntled Knuckles as the echidna pivoted out of Sonic's room.

"I swear, Sonic, you are the _only_ person on Mobius who can lose something this big and fancy," the echidna wasted no time in commenting, violet eyes dangerously narrow.

"Only reason you didn't lose yours is cuz you leave it here for Tails to take care of," Sonic shot back, throwing open the closet door and roughly shoving through its contents.

Knuckles grunted. "Yeah. Key words: take care of. Is yours even tuned up anymore? Have you looked at the air canister and—"

" _I found it!"_ came Tails's muffled voice to interrupt Knuckles's scolding. The rapid _fwapping_ of the kitsune's famous helicopter tails followed before suddenly he was over the banister and standing in front of them, handing Sonic his prized Blue Star with a sheepish smile. "I completely forgot I had it in the workshop a couple days ago and I never put it back in your closet. Sorry."

Letting out a laugh, Sonic turned the board over, nodding approvingly at its condition. "Don't worry, bud. What'd you do to it?"

"Not much. The engine's a little more powerful, which means you should be able to give yourself an extra second or two for tricks. The shell's a little lighter and easier to maneuver, the air canister's a little bigger... You get the idea. Just a whole bunch of little stuff." Before Sonic could react, the fox added, "I left the chips and stuff on the table, too. We can just drop our stuff, pick up the food, and head for the park as soon as the last race is over."

"Sweet. Nice planning." With that, Sonic adjusted the green sunglasses on his forehead, let a grin split his face, and said, "Let's go! Time to tear up the track!" A split second later, a blue blur was all that was left of him, and outside the house, he was pleased to find that Tails and Knuckles were following just feet behind him, their confident grins matching his.

* * *

The day passed in a whirl of excitement and high-speed action. Team Heroes, the three boys plus Amy and Cream, dominated every track and every race, taking Team Dark (Shadow, Rouge, Omega, and Sonic's brother Manic) and Team Dimension (Silver, Blaze, and Marine) out of the competition in the process. The third race was against a team they didn't know, and though they were good, Sonic and Amy finishing in first and second place helped cement the team's place in the finals. By that time, the July sun was bright and hot, and the thought of another race was less than appealing, so the girls decided to hunt for some refreshments while the boys wrapped things up.

"Only one race left," Tails gasped between exhilarated breaths. "Station Square Speedway. Do we know who we're going up against?"

Sonic and Knuckles nodded, the former flipping his warm hoverboard into his hand. "I'll give you one guess."

The fox sighed. "So he still hasn't managed to kill himself out here yet?"

"Maybe today will finally be the day," Knuckles muttered, tactfully keeping his voice too low for any of the nearby television cameras to pick up.

"Aw, c'mon, guys," Sonic shrugged, "it'll be fun! Just like last time, and the time before that." He smirked at Knuckles's flat expression and said, "C'mon, let's go find the girls and get going. It's only a couple of minutes to Station Square."

"There they are!" Tails, who had been paying minimal attention while Sonic was giving his pep talk, waved into the crowd at a tiny splash of pink he'd seen between spectators. "Amy, Cream! Over here!"

The girls waved back as well as they could with cold, wet water bottles clutched in all hands. Amy held two in one hand, which she resolved by handing one to Sonic and keeping the other one for herself. "You did really well in that race, Sonic," she ventured as he broke the seal.

"Thanks." He drained a good quarter of the bottle before cocking his head at her. "So did you. You kept up good."

"You kept up _really_ well," informed Tails matter-of-factly before Amy could respond. The kitsune pointed at the screen of his Miles Electric, which boasted head shots of the team alongside their times at each course. "You two are running the fastest times today. See? Amy's only ever a second or two behind Sonic. I think we can use that to our advantage against the Rogues."

"We're going against the Babylon Rogues?" Amy groaned, all thoughts of Sonic's compliment gone in an instant. "In the finals? Seriously?"

"I know it's old hat, but that's the card we've been dealt. We just have to deal with it the best we can." Tails punctuated his statement by dumping his last few sips of water over his head, sighing in relief as the droplets disappeared into his thick fur.

Knuckles's empty water bottle crinkled and snapped as he squished and twisted it around itself. "I assume two have some kind of strategy for this, right, Sonic?" he questioned in a tone that said he actually suspected otherwise. "You at least figured, 'Oh, this is an Extreme Gear competition, Jet kinda likes those so he might show up,' right?"

Sonic and Tails exchanged glances and shrugged in unison. "Not really," Sonic admitted with a careless shrug. "Who wants to let a bunch of birdbrains decide how I'm gonna race?"

"But we gotta do something," Tails insisted. "This is do or die, Sonic, and you know how good the Rogues are. Racing's in their blood. Let's see..." He scanned the electronic spreadsheet while Sonic and Knuckles both rolled their eyes. "Let's try this. Sonic and Amy, you two try to stick with Jet. Try to nerf his speed, if you can, or at least keep up with him and keep him from gaining too big a lead. Knuckles, you know Storm best, so stick with him; we'll give you two some space. I know you're gonna need it. Cream and I will cover Wave and whatever else needs doing. We just need to use the extra teammate limit to our advantage as much as we can to get one of us in the top spot."

"So aim high, divide and conquer," summed up Sonic with a nod. "Knew we could count on you, bud. Everybody in?"

"Of course!" Cream smiled. "I can't wait to finally race the Babylon Rogues. I've heard so many amazing things about them!"

"Let's just make that a happy meeting on our end, then," declared Knuckles with a smirk. "I'll smash 'em down!"

Amy just grinned and tossed her water bottle into a nearby trash can. "Do you even need to ask?"

Apparently he didn't; Sonic had vanished in a gust of wind as soon as the words had left the girl's mouth, leaving his teammates to follow with a shake of their heads and a laugh or two.

* * *

The big city was a far cry from village-like Emerald Town, but the hype surrounding the final race of the Prix was just as high. Crowds screamed from the streets and from windows countless stories above, and officials and reporters scrambled to and fro trying to make everything perfect. When the race finally began, the noise was spectacularly deafening.

Sonic came up on Jet's left at the very first straightaway, saluting the hawk with a cheeky grin; "Hey, Feathers, long time no see."

"Humph!" Jet smirked in return. "It's always you in the finals, isn't it? Oh, well, better to beat you than any of these other losers!" That said, he pushed off with a blast of speed, but Sonic had been expecting the move and easily compensated for the sudden airstream. When Jet accidentally landed on a car at the bottom of a trick ramp, Sonic snagged the lead with Amy faithfully following close behind, a few short feet away from the irritated Legendary Wind Master.

"Hah! Think again!" Jet pushed forward again, just enough to catch up to his ever-present rival, and, in the heat of the moment, surprised everyone by slamming into Sonic from the side as hard as he could. This time, Sonic hadn't been expecting the move, and with a startled cry he veered uncontrollably, just barely managing to stay on his board. In trying to do that, however, he failed to watch where he was going. Amy couldn't have possibly slammed on the brakes in time to avoid colliding with him, and the two tumbled off their boards and to the side of the road with the horrified gasps of the crowd acting as their soundtrack. They landed on the sidewalk in a heap of blue and pink quills, Sonic having ended up on top, both unhurt but completely dazed for a few precious seconds.

"See ya!" Jet taunted with a cackle before speeding off.

This was about the time when the two hedgehogs realized where they were. Sonic snapped back to full senses and tore himself away, his face tinged with red, while Amy stared wide-eyed at him, one hand covering the spot where his muzzle had touched hers. "Sonic—"

"C'mon," he interrupted quickly, springing to his feet. He raced over to where their boards had ended up, looking scratched but otherwise unharmed, and glanced around looking for something, _anything_ to not address what had just happened. They had tumbled to a stop in front of what appeared to be an abandoned alleyway, but something jumped out at Sonic—it wasn't roped off the way the others were.

"Amy, c'mere!" he cried, tossing his still-shocked teammate her board. "There's something down this way!"

"What're you two doing?!" cried last-place Knuckles as he blasted by, depicting Amy's thoughts of the situation with astonishing accuracy. The echidna was gone before Sonic could answer him, but that was okay, since Sonic appeared to have other plans.

"Sonic!" Amy followed him desperately, throwing her board under her feet to catch up. "We're out of bounds!"

"No, we're not! There's gotta be—aha!"

Amy saw it at the same time he did and gasped. "A grind rail?!"

"I bet this is a shortcut!" Sonic cried excitedly. "C'mon! We gotta catch up!" He took a running start and leaped up onto the rail, tossing up his whirring board and slamming down on it at the end of the rail. Amy was just a second behind, and the two shot up the rail and expertly balanced all the way to the end, where they were overjoyed to find Jet merrily gliding in first place.

The hawk quickly sobered when he realized Sonic was next to him once again, smirking triumphantly. "What was that you were saying?"

" _What?!"_ spluttered Jet, blue eyes wide and wild. "How the he—Hey!" Sonic had slipped in front of him, out of easy shove range, with a laugh.

"Language, Featherhead! See you at the finish line!" he quipped as they crossed the line to kick off the second lap.

Sonic was smart enough to deliberately pass the shortcut while Jet was behind him, completely focused on him, but Amy knew her cues; she slipped into the alleyway and took the lead by a few meters when she appeared again halfway up the track. Jet squawked in disbelief, his ruffled feathers standing on end. Sonic whooped in triumph.

On the third and final pass, however, Jet veered unexpectedly, and Sonic, startled, took off after him when he realized the bird had figured out their secret. Jet was the only speed type besides Sonic and Amy on the track; thus, with this shortcut, he was the Babylon Rogues' last chance at a top spot. Amy was still ahead, but her lead had diminished, and now that the boys were on her tail, she pressed forward more aggressively in the hope that it would counter Jet's certain shot at comeback. The three practically flew over the rail, onto the track, and across the finish line with the crowd roaring.

" _No!"_ came Jet's agonized cry. Amy rolled her eyes at his dramatics as he hung his head, clearly disgusted with his third-place finish no matter how far ahead of the others he was. "Why can't I ever beat you?! I was _born_ for this!"

"Guess you never got past that stage, huh?" Sonic teased. He ducked past a block in the road with ease, slowly beginning to apply the brakes as he did so. Jet huffed and accelerated, apparently wishing to pout in peace.

Sonic turned his attention to Amy, who was still with him as they took a cool-down lap over the main track Amy hadn't traveled once. "Great work, Ames; you beat both of us!"

"Yeah," came the girl's breathless response, "and we won! That shortcut was amazing!"

That was as far as the conversation got as the two winners recalled the embarrassing escapade that had revealed the game-winning route. Sonic had expected Amy to freak out over it; Amy had thought Sonic would laugh it off like anything else. Neither one said anything, and Sonic suddenly found it difficult to look her in the eye.

"Sonic! Amy!" Tails rode up quite easily now that they were going at a slower street speed. His face was practically glowing, and his hands gestured wildly as he momentarily struggled to find words. "Guys, that was incredible! I saw Jet knock you both out and I thought it was over, but—what did you do? Seriously, one minute you weren't there, and the next you were in first place!"

Happy with the change in subject, Sonic explained how Jet's sabotage had actually aided them in the end, with Knuckles and Cream appearing at the end of the story.

"That meanie!" Cream huffed, a glare overtaking her sweet face. "He could have hurt you!"

"The important thing is that he didn't," Tails reminded.

Knuckles folded his arms and added, "And that he paid for it in the end."

"Are you both sure you're okay?" Tails circled around Sonic, frowning at his skinned right elbow. "You were going pretty fast..."

Sonic shook his head. "We're fine, or at least I am. Just a scrape or two; it'll be gone by tomorrow."

Tails turned his assessing eye on the other hedgehog; "Amy? What about you?"

"I'm okay," she managed. She actually felt quite shaken and jittery, but she had a feeling that had more to do with Sonic than Jet.

She just caught Sonic glancing at her, his unspoken words shining in his eyes; _"We'll talk later."_ He carried on talking, like nothing had happened, and some part of Amy wondered how soon "later" was going to be.


	3. Fireworks

**A/N: No Anon review replies this time because nobody else got a response this time so I should probably be fair. *cries* That being said, thank you all for your kind words! I was a little leary of how that last chapter was going to go over, but you all eased my doubts. If anybody is still here, thanks also for sticking around! Hopefully this next chapter will keep your expectations high for this fic!**

 **In other news: I'M NOT DEAD. Evidence of a higher power, if you ask me. I'm officially a senior in college and I have felt every second of it. As seems to be the usual case, this semester has given me experiences I will _definitely_ be using in this fic, so maybe that will make up for the inexcusably long hiatus...**

 **That said, this chapter is a pretty blatant ripoff of the American Independence Day holiday (at least in my area), so for my international readers, enjoy this glimpse into American culture in a supposedly original setting. *shot* For my fellow Americans... I promise there's a reason I'm ripping off this particular holiday, and once you read the chapter title, you can probably guess what that reason is.**

 **Enough rambling. Onward!**

* * *

 _Recap: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Cream have just finished competing in the Ex World Grand Prix (the real one). They managed to beat Jet and his buddies for first place in the tournament, but not before Jet viciously shoved Sonic and Amy off the track and into an awkward predicament. Most of the damage was confined to the hedgehogs' pride, but despite their win, they can barely look each other in the eye. Amy knows they need to talk, but she has no idea if Sonic is as prepared as she is._

* * *

 **Chapter 3—Fireworks**

Sundown had turned the sky bright orange by the time Sonic and his friends wrapped up the award ceremony and finally made it to the park for the anniversary celebration. This year, the gang had decided to throw a cookout and set off an assortment of sparklers, firecrackers, and possibly fireworks, if Vector could find any. They weren't alone; several families and other groups held their own territory in the park with coolers and lawn chairs, and a few offered the excited fivesome some freshly-cooked hot dogs and hamburgers. Amy and Cream politely declined, but the three hungry boys accepted and promptly scarfed the offerings as they made their way to the middle of the park, where everybody was waiting for them—Vanilla, the Chaotix, Silver, Blaze, Marine, Rouge, and even Shadow.

"Hey, look at that," Vector yelled over the sizzling grill in front of him, "it's the best Extreme Gear riders in the world!"

The group started clapping and cheering, and Vanilla got up to hug her daughter and her friends. "I'm so proud of you, Creamy! And all of you, you were wonderful today! Oh, Vector! Are you ready yet? These boys look half starved."

A bubble of laughter arose as Vector obediently saluted. "You bet, ma'am. Who's ready for some meat?"

"Me!" cried Sonic and Knuckles simultaneously. From that instant on, it seemed the two were in an unspoken race, shoving and pushing and shouting at each other to get at the paper plates first. By the time Sonic finally wrestled his way into the front spot, Shadow had already approached Vector first and was reaching for the cheese platter, oozing calmness as he began to dress what appeared to be the ultimate burger for the Ultimate Life Form.

"You only put cheese on your burgers?" Silver couldn't help but ask.

Shadow responded with a similar look to the one that won him the "friendship" of the GUN commander during the Black Arms attack. Silver cringed, muttered an apology, and slipped behind him with his empty plate.

Once Sonic and Knuckles had duked it out over which burger was the biggest and which of the two it belonged to (Knuckles won), the others filed behind much more efficiently, and soon everyone was happily chowing down.

"Couldn' phake ma eyes offa the TV awl day!" Charmy declared through a mouthful of food. At Espio's warning look, he swallowed and added with no less enthusiasm, "I wanna ride Ex Gear like that!"

"Soon," Espio promised. "I'd like for you to mature some more before you decide to risk your neck on such a hobby." He painstakingly rubbed his fingers with his napkin as Charmy's face screwed up into a frustrated frown.

"Cream does it!" the bee pointed out loudly, causing the aforementioned rabbit to blush at the unwanted attention.

"Cream is more mature. You will be allowed to buy your own board as soon as you're mature enough to save the money for it." His final word on the subject thus said, the chameleon took another bite of his meal. Charmy stuck his tongue out at him and decided to see how many chips he could fit in his mouth at once.

The momentary lull in the conversation made it easier for Amy to get a good look at their picnic area. The place was decorated Chaotix-style—meaning with handmade rainbows of construction paper garlands hung on anything capable of supporting any weight whatsoever—with a Vanilla Rabbit flair to it in the form of a centerpiece of colorful flowers on the picnic table. Said table was crowded with plates of fresh hamburger toppings, bags of chips, napkins, and plates loaded with food. Around the table, most of her friends were still dressed for the competition, looking sporty and casual in sunglasses and sneakers, the very picture of sporty casual.

As always, however, the female hedgehog's green gaze landed on Sonic. He was no doubt avoiding her after their little _incident_ on the track earlier, but he didn't need to look at her to look good. She loved it when he dressed up for competitions; really, though, when did he ever look bad? He was _born_ handsome beyond all reason, Amy was certain.

She knew their encounter earlier had startled him as much as it did her. They had been friends for so long that she knew the way he acted, down to the look in his eyes, when he was embarrassed, confused, scared, amused, and everything else, and for this, his reaction had definitely been a mix of everything. He had tried to move on as quickly as possible. Maybe it had something to do with being in the middle of a race—or maybe a lot—but Amy got the feeling that he would have reacted similarly no matter where or when it happened.

But how would he take it after the fact? Surely he had felt what she'd felt when they were in such close contact, but then, this wasn't the first time she'd had thoughts like that. "He's just shy" was the old and disproven excuse she'd given herself time and again. Sonic the Hedgehog wasn't shy. But what else could possibly be keeping him from admitting to his special relationship with her?

"This is awesome, Vec," Sonic himself suddenly broke into her musings, receiving numerous exclamations of agreement.

Vector puffed out his chest, proudly displaying his classic but filthy "Kiss the Cook" apron. "Glad ya like it, pal. It's my award-winning secret recipe, y'know!"

Coincidentally, Espio choked on his food at this moment; Amy could have sworn she heard the word "not" underneath the chameleon's splutters, but, of course, she couldn't be sure.

"Have you ever thought about marketing this stuff?" Silver suggested. Immediately all eyes were on him, and he hesitated before continuing, "I mean, I would buy it, wouldn't you guys?"

"Oh, Chaos..." Shadow shook his head, his expression pinched like he was starting to feel sick. "Don't you have any idea what you've done, leafhead?"

"He's given me a great idea!" Vector practically shouted, completely oblivious to the groans from around the table in his sudden excitement. "I can see it now: _Vector's Burger Bonanza!_ The best place for barbecue this side of Mobius! Write this one down, boys; this could be the start of something _huge!"_

Weak smiles dominated the table. Espio buried his face in his folded arms, and Charmy counted his thirty-first chip with a muffled voice.

"So... how 'bout that tournament?" Tails spoke in a tone far too bright to be real. Yet the different subject was universally accepted. Tails offered a rundown of how, exactly, the points had worked in the team's favor when the Babylon Rogues had swept every other race they'd run. Silver courageously lobbied for a little glory for his team, who had earned fourth place overall in points. Vanilla, of course, fussed over both Sonic and Amy when she heard about the crash, despite Sonic's bitter protests and valiant attempts to not let the lady between him and his hamburger.

Eventually, the lamps lining the sidewalk lit up to compensate for the rapidly disappearing sunlight, and the Chaotix started setting up the fireworks display. While they were creating their own explosions (sans literal fire), most of the gang hovered near them to watch the show, but Amy was surprised to catch Sonic nibbling on chips by himself. She toyed with talking to him, then ultimately decided there was no point in shying away now.

"Why aren't you watching?" she asked upon approach. Sonic looked up at her, not having noticed her until now, and hurriedly swallowed his snack.

"Somebody's gotta be near the fire extinguisher in case Charmy explodes something," he quipped.

"Like Vector's head?" giggled Amy.

Sonic laughed, too. "There's not a fire extinguisher in the _world_ big enough to contain that kind of explosion."

From their safe distance, the two watched in awkward silence for a couple of minutes. Then, Sonic ventured to speak; "Are you sure you're okay after what happened earlier?" Amy tried to reassure him yet again, but he went on before she could make a sound; "I didn't mean to just... smother you like that, I tried to get out of the way, but—"

"Sonic!" Amy had to raise her voice over his little ramble. He bit his lip in response. "I already told you, I'm fine. Honest. You actually saved me from getting more hurt. I... I guess I should thank you."

Sonic raised a blue eyeridge, but nodded once. "You were just acting kind of off, 's all."

 _Didn't you feel what I felt?_ She questioned him in her mind. She had to be more careful with her word choice than that. "It... It just... It was awkward, okay? But not a bad kind of awkward, it's not like I _minded_ you being so close—"

Sonic coughed quite suddenly, breaking Amy's sentence. Only then did she realize how he must have taken that, and her cheeks reddened enough to make a cherry green with envy.

"Let's not—can we not go there?" the male hedgehog lamely suggested. He himself was trying not to match her color for color. Through his mind raced jumbled words all somehow related to the girl in front of him, but not one of them bothered to form a single sentence which was relevant to the topic at hand.

Amy couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't either end the conversation or take it down roads neither one of them wanted. "Yeah... Are... Are you sure there's nothing to talk about?"

 _No,_ a part of Sonic wanted to say. He wasn't dumb or blind; he knew as well as she did that something had changed between them over the years and it had come to a head that day. The problem was, he liked his life right where it was at, and he was by no means excited to consider the idea that his relationship with Amy could be different from what it was. Neither was he sure that he felt that way at _all._ Sure, she was different, but _that_ kind of different was a matter of its own caliber. So he stood there, awkwardly balanced on one foot with a chip in one hand, battling internally over what to say. _Chaos, I'm not ready for this... What's a nice, non-committal answer...?_

"Hey, Amy! Mr. Sonic!"

Sonic probably shrank a good two inches when he relaxed in relief. Cream was waving at them from her post near Tails and Silver at the fireworks site, calling, "Come on over, we're ready to start!"

"Coming!" Sonic returned, avoiding Amy's gaze and stepping toward Cream in what he would later refer to as one of the stupidest things he could have done right then. "And good grief, will you _stop_ calling me 'Mister'? Makes it sound like I'm all old and stuff!"

In spite of herself, Amy couldn't help but snicker once before remembering she was annoyed with him. Nevertheless, it would do no good to act up and ruin the night, and so Amy dutifully joined the group of her friends who were backing away from the display area. Of course, she wound up standing next to Sonic, but that became a moot point when Vector successfully set off the first rocket; a shower of sparkles blossomed in the sky, and the crack was in perfect time with cheers from the merry audience.

"Who's next?" yelled Vector. Hands shot up, including Amy's for a split second before she remembered herself and put it back down, hoping nobody saw that.

Unfortunately, the one she most hoped hadn't seen it, did.

"You don't want to?" Sonic questioned, cocking his head in surprise.

 _Curses!_ "Well, no, I do," Amy sheepishly admitted as they watched Tails eagerly run up for a turn. "It's just... I haven't shot fireworks before and—"

"Is that all?" Sonic scoffed, an idea already forming in his head for how to make up for his lack of answer earlier. "Sheesh, Ames, it's hardly blowing up a battleship. Whole lot less dangerous, too. I'll show you. _Hey!_ I've got next flare!" The last part was shouted over the others' conversations, and was followed by an indignant cry of "No fair!" from one of the kids.

Once Tails's rocket had exploded and the fox had practically skipped back to the observation area, Sonic made good on his offer and handed Amy the igniter almost before she knew what was going on. Aware that everyone was watching them, Sonic directed her on what to do, even going so far as to put one hand on the flaming stick himself and guide her. Then, it was a mad dash to back away before the thing exploded, and they watched a flower of sparks explode high over their heads. The viewing angle was incredible, and for a second Amy couldn't help but giggle like a little girl instead of the sixteen-year-old she was.

In her excitement she happened to look up at Sonic. A couple of years ago she had started to catch up to him in height, but she had quit growing months ago while he sometimes seemed ever taller than her every day (not that she minded much). He stood tall and proud, with his famous smirk, so cocky yet so soft and kind just under the surface, firmly in place. He held his head up high and eyes trained on the skies in a true hero's stance. For the few seconds the firework was lit, a literal sparkle was reflected in his green eyes as a supplement to the metaphorical one that was always there, no matter what.

It didn't matter what he said or didn't say; he was Sonic, tried and true, and until he wasn't, Amy would adore him unconditionally. Even when he was being difficult. She didn't want to be a firework, spectacular and worth a look for a while and then fizzling out. She wanted forever, and she wasn't about to mess that up.

Thus, they watched the fireworks with companionable silence between them.


	4. My Mom the Queen

**Y'all. It's been a spell, hasn't it?**

 **If you're still here, thank you. I'm officially a _summa cum laude_ college graduate, in the process of looking for a job, whose story has shaken out to be REMARKABLY familiar to an old-time SonAmy fan. (And, yes, it sucks.) Every time I thought about this fic, I saw parallels to my own life, and I knew I couldn't stay true to the characters in the state I was in. Since that's always been a selling point of my work—characterization—I stopped writing.**

 **Kids, don't do that. Just... don't. Don't let others' treatment of you—good or bad, intentional or unintentional, whether you love them with all your heart or could live without them—affect you doing what you love.**

 **Things are looking up a bit, so I'm back, at least until I get a grown-up job. This may not be totally up-to-par because I'm exhausted, but I want to take this rare moment of motivation to get something out there for you guys.**

 **Thanks for listening, and with that said, let's get some real plot going, shall we?**

* * *

 _Recap: After the controversial ending to the World Grand Prix, the gang convenes in the park to celebrate the three-year anniversary of Eggman's final defeat. As the climax of the party approaches, Sonic and Amy try to discuss what happened, but neither is satisfied with the path the conversation takes. As fireworks shoot into the sky, Amy resolves to have hope—a decision that will affect their relationship forever._

* * *

 **Chapter 4—My Mom the Queen**

Sonic slept until well past noon the next morning. The party had ended late (though not as late as it could have if the mosquitoes hadn't interfered), and, with this fact combined with the usual summertime laziness, it was only hunger that brought the nineteen-year-old back into the land of the living before bedtime that night. Yet even then, Sonic couldn't bring himself to get up; with the blanket tucked and folded tightly around his body and his head buried deep in his pillows, he was much too comfortable. He lay contentedly, listening to the air conditioner humming along, and he almost drifted back into a blissful sleep...

… when his cell phone on the nightstand began chiming just inches from his ear.

The hedgehog's first thought was to silence the thing, but when he reached over, moving as little as possible, the button didn't work. Cursing mentally, he pulled himself up and used both hands to yank the phone off its charger, which silenced the loud and... rather feminine ringtone.

It occurred to him that that had been a different ringtone than the one for friends or the one for unknown numbers, and it wasn't a tone he would have liked even if he had been more conscious. He again reached for the device, but this time he actually bothered to read the screen. "Mom" was plastered across it, along with buttons to accept or decline the call.

Oh, how tempting it was to let his mother answer to voicemail and go back to sleep. But his better judgment overruled his melatonin levels, if only by a hair, and he tapped the green icon and greeted her, giving what he considered to be a valiant attempt to sound more awake than he was. "Hey, Mom."

There was a moment of hesitation before the soft voice of Queen Aleena came through the phone. _"Hi, sweetie, are you okay?"_

"Huh—oh, yeah, sorry, I just woke up is all..."

" _Oh, I'm sorry."_ Actually, she sounded more unsure than sorry, but then, most mothers would want their grown sons out of bed hours before now. _"Is this a bad time?"_

"No, no, it's fine," he assured her patiently. He rolled over and sat up against his mangled pillows, sleepily shoving his disheveled quills out of his face. "What's up?"

" _Just checking on you, dear. Manic told me about yesterday's race."_

A grin spread across Sonic's face as memories of yesterday's excitement hit him again. "Yeah, me and my team won against some big rivals of ours. We had a great time."

" _That's wonderful, honey. I didn't know you were such an Extreme Gear expert!"_

"Heh... 'Expert' is a strong word. It's just something I do for fun. And I just so happen to be better than the best bird on the circuit," he couldn't resist adding.

" _That green hawk? Jet was his name, right?"_

"Yeah. You've seen him?"

" _I watched him ram you off the track on the news yesterday."_

"The news?" An imaginary bucket of ice water was dumped on him. _Darn you, Jet; the one time you decide to play dirty..._ In an effort to keep cool over the phone, he managed, "Oh, yeah, I guess it was the big sports event of the day, huh?"

" _Besides the soccer tournament, and you know how exciting that is."_

Sonic laughed. For everything that was awkward about his relationship with his long-lost mother, there was at least their shared, unpopular disinterest in soccer. "Whoo. Pro soccer is pretty much guys kicking a ball around and reverting to their toddler days every five minutes. What's not to love about that?"

" _People all over the world love it, Sonic. Give it a chance."_ That was Aleena's way of saying she agreed one-hundred percent without actually saying it. Sonic had learned somewhat how to deal with his mother's indirect way of talking about controversial subjects in the three years since she had been back in his life; with her being the queen of nearly a whole continent, speaking of things from both points of view was just second nature to her. He gave a non-committal grunt and swung his long legs over the side of the mattress, making to get up without actually doing it, as his mother pitched another few questions about his health and well-being before finally seeming satisfied that he wasn't dying in a hospital.

When she finally changed the subject, it wasn't much better. " _Have you ever thought about going pro on Ex Gear?"_

Sonic bit back a groan of epic proportions. Lately, Aleena had been on a "find Sonic a job and a life" kick; the problem was that she didn't know him very well and suggested, in her gentle and definitely-not-overbearing way, things which he would _never_ want to do in a million years. This one was closer to the ballpark than she'd ever gotten; she had already suggested track coach (because he liked to run), travel agent (because he had been around the world more than once), and even video game programmer (because he played games occasionally; this one was a reluctant suggestion, but the pay met her standards).

"Not seriously," he told her cheerfully in an effort to conceal his annoyance. "It's pretty high profile and regulated, not as free as I'd like. Besides, it's just a hobby; it'd be harder to enjoy if I was doing it for sponsors and stuff, right?"

" _Well, all right, then. It's your decision."_ He could hear the undertone of disapproval in her voice, and he wondered if he himself sounded as nonchalant as he thought.

"I'll be fine, Mom. I still get checks from the government for the whole Eggman thing, I've got a place with Tails, and I'm not going hungry or anything like that. We're even splitting the prize money from the race yesterday. Might go get something _really_ fancy, like a set of china."

Aleena laughed, and Sonic gave her credit for recognizing this basic sarcastic comment. " _I know, honey. I'd still feel better if I knew you had a job and such. You can't rely on hero money forever."_

"Mom, I know. If I need a job, I'll go get one."

" _But what will you do? You haven't gone to school for anything."_

"There are plenty of jobs around here that don't need a degree. I'd find something." Truthfully, Sonic didn't know that for sure. His (admittedly vague) backup plan in case of disaster was Station Square University; they even had a satellite campus in Emerald Town specifically for Mobians like him. But school was the last thing he wanted to take up right now, especially since he had a source of income and running wasn't a career, anyway.

His short answer, though, seemed to irritate his mother, too. _"Honey, you're going to have to take some responsibility for yourself at some point."_ Sonic opened his mouth to remind her that he lived completely on his own and had done so since he was ten—through _her_ actions, no less—but Aleena wasn't done. _"Maybe you should come on down to Mobotropolis and check out MSU. Maybe they'll have something you'd like to do."_

Sonic's quills stiffened, and his mouth dropped open. _Mobotropolis State?! That's forever away from here! I'd have to move down there. There's too much ocean in the way. I don't want to live in Mobotropolis!_ Since being rebuilt in the aftermath of Eggman's reign, the city of Sonic's birth had become a high-class establishment, a very wealthy city known for its attractiveness to some of Mobius's best, brightest, and, in Sonic's opinion, most stuck-up people. Every single civilian he'd ever talked to in the city held some sort of prejudice against him as the "runaway prince" or an "uncivilized ragamuffin." If at all possible, Sonic held _negative_ desire to move to Mobotropolis for the city itself; forget the fact that he liked his home base in Emerald Town with all his friends and his simple, nomadic life.

 _I am_ not _living in Mobotropolis._

"Thanks but no thanks," he quickly said into the phone, deciding to summarize these thoughts for the hundredth time and get the conversation over with. "There's Station Square if I decide to get into school, and I like it here."

" _I see."_ It was crystal clear from Aleena's tone that she _didn't_ see, but for once, Sonic heard silence—an opportunity to defend himself.

"Yeah, all my friends are here, and it's a really nice place to live—you remember Tails's workshop in the woods, right? Everybody's nice and laid-back—it's the kind of place where you go into a convenience store and everybody knows your name, even if you're not famous."

" _It isn't like you couldn't make friends here, either,"_ Aleena reasoned. _"And I'm sure you'd come to love it with time, just as much as you like Emerald Town."_

"But they wouldn't be my friends," Sonic tried again. "I mean, how many robotic technicians and Angel Island guardians do you know?"

It was then that he had an idea. At first, he was surprised with himself for coming up with this, but it wasn't like it was a _bad_ idea. After all, the whole reason they were having this conversation was because Aleena was almost entirely detached from his life; perhaps he could work this to his advantage.

Part of him realized how much that thought sounded like a certain mad scientist he knew, but before it could register with the rest of him, he had already blurted out, "And... Amy won't be there."

" _Amy?"_ There; there was the tone Aleena got when she was especially interested but didn't wish to show it. _"She was that pretty pink hedgehog, right? One of your friends?"_

"Well, yeah, but..." The crushing realization of what he was about to do hit him like a punch to the gut. He couldn't do it; he couldn't force the words off his tongue. He was a terrible liar—

" _Are you going out with her?"_

Sonic froze. One syllable could get him out of this. "... Yeah, kind of." _She said it, not me,_ he told himself.

" _Kind of? Is something wrong?"_ Aleena was intrigued, and more importantly, she believed him.

"No, no, it's just... We're kind of keeping it on the DL for now. Not telling folks." Now he was really lying, and he was surprised at how easily the story was coming to him. "Media circus and all that."

" _I see."_ Now she really did see, but she was hesitant to back down. _"So you don't want to keep up a long-distance relationship, then, is that it?"_

Sonic shifted uncomfortably, thankful she couldn't see him. "Well, that's not all of it, but yeah."

Aleena was silent for a minute, and, even in that silence, Sonic could hear the gears turning in her head. He knew she had no reason to not believe his story; it was getting her to believe this was enough reason to stay that was the hard part. He waited, not daring to breathe lest the sound be too honest.

" _Well, I can't tell you what to do, can I?"_ she finally said, and Sonic flopped onto his back in relief. _"You're grown now, I suppose, and your decisions are yours to make. But please make your mother happy and at least think about school? Amy's parents would likely rather she date a young man who knows where he's going in life, don't you agree?"_

Sonic was too annoyed with her tacitly calling him a directionless wimp to remind her that Amy lived on her own, too.

Luckily, Tails burst into the room at that moment, shouting Sonic's name. When he realized Sonic was on the phone, however, he clamped his mouth shut and switched to wild gestures, mouthing words that looked too much like "Big trouble!" to put the hedgehog at ease.

"Yeah, okay, thanks, Mom," he quickly said, "but I gotta go. Tails just came in, looks like he needs help with something."

" _All right, sweetie,"_ Aleena consented, back to her sweet-mom voice. _"It was nice to talk to you again, and congratulations on the race!"_

"Thanks," Sonic hurriedly responded. He very nearly hung up on her, but remembered just in time to say a proper goodbye before putting the phone down. He looked up at Tails, whose eyes were big and whose head was cocked in confusion. "What's wrong? You're not messing with Chaos Drives again, are you?"

Tails shook his head. "No, no, I gave up on that for now. It's—it's Silver and Blaze and Marine."

Alarm shot through Sonic, and he stood up. "What about them?" he demanded as he reached for his shoes.

"They—Silver tried to use Chaos Control to open a portal so they could go home, but he can't do it! They're _stuck_ here!"


End file.
